Bin Laden threatened Australia in videotape

SYDNEY (AFP) -
Osama bin Laden warned last year that Australia was on al-Qaeda's
terrorism hit list because of its role in helping East Timor win
independence from Indonesia.

A taped message from bin Laden last November was believed to be a
coded signal to extremists in the region to begin preparing retaliatory
attacks against Australians for the East Timor operation.

"The crusader Australian forces were on Indonesian shores ...
and they landed on East Timor which

is part of the Islamic world," bin Laden said in the video
recording, broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

At least 190 people were killed, about half of them Australian, in
the October 12 car bombing on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

The video, not previously broadcast in the West, indicated Australia
should be punished for its role on the largely Christian island, setting
back plans by Muslim radicals for a united Islamic nation.

Australian troops spearheaded the UN-backed Interfet force that
restored peace in East Timor after militia went on a murderous rampage
following a 1999 self-rule ballot in which the East Timorese voted for
independence from Indonesia.

The bin Laden video was aired Saturday in a BBC documentary tracing
links between al-Qaeda and the bomb attacks in Bali.

The Panorama documentary claimed bin Laden opened a second front in
his battle against the West and the Bali bombings were the opening salvo
as al-Qaeda operatives, formerly massed in Afghanistan, began to fan out
across the world in preparation for further attacks on Western
interests.

The grainy video, which first appeared on the Islamic world's
satellite television network al-Jazeera and rebroadcast by the BBC,
shows the face of bin Laden condemning the "crusader"
Australian forces massing on the Indonesian coast as they supported the
East Timorese bid for independence.

Another statement attributed to bin Laden, the BBC said, called those
behind a recent attack on a French oil tanker in Yemen
"heroic."

The tapes emerged as the United Nations on Saturday declared Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), the main suspect in the Bali bombing, as a terrorist
organisation following a joint request by Australia and Indonesia.

"Every UN member nation in the world is now expected to take
action against Jemaah Islamiah," a spokesman for Australian Foreign
Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said.

"Australia is very pleased the listing has been formalised and
is pleased with the degree of international support it got,"
Downer's spokesman said.

As a result of the listing, UN member nations are required to act
against Jemaah Islamiyah members and entities by freezing their assets,
preventing their movement and blocking any attempts to sell or transfer
arms.

The declaration sets off domestic legislation in Australia making
membership of Jemaah Islamiyah illegal.

Ahead of the declaration, Australian authorities said they would move
quickly to capture any Jemaah Islamiyah agents in the country.

Australia's top counter-intelligence agency, ASIO, revealed this week
that members of the group had been in Australia.

Foreign affairs officials on Saturday meanwhile said the remains of
14 Australians would be flown back to their homeland from Bali after
being formally identified.

The officials said they were working with Indonesian authorities to
identify the remaining Australians as quickly as possible, although
Downer said the task was proving difficult.

Authorities also revealed that an Indonesian woman died overnight in
an Australian hospital from injuries sustained in the Bali blast.

The woman was believed to be a key witness to the attack as she had
told investigators she saw a man with a suspicious object inside one of
the bombed nightclubs.